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RMU Saves Money Through Apple Recycling Project

Earlier this year RMU’s Information Technology (I.T.) department took part in a recycling collaboration with Apple that saved the university thousands and disposed of old, outdated technology in an environmentally friendly manner.

After centralizing RMU’s Apple hardware and software product purchases with the university’s national education representative, Dennis Jochmann, RMU director of I.T. customer service, asked our Apple representative if they could give us any money for our old equipment.

“There was nothing they really wanted to buy back,” says Jochmann, “but they told me about their environmental recycling initiative program and offered, free of charge, to dispose of our decommissioned electronic equipment.”

According to its Apple and the Environment webpage, Apple has a contracted recycler that accepts the old equipment, disassembles it, and grinds it into confetti-sized pieces. A Certificate of Destruction is then provided to the customer.

Earlier this year RMU donated 23 pallets of old gear that totaled over 17 tons (see above photo).

“In the past with even less strict disposal guidelines it still cost us thousands of dollars to get it removed,” says Jochmann. “With Apple’s program, we just had to do the stacking and shrink-wrapping of the pallets and provide a fork truck. It was a no-brainer.”